My Dream Vacation
by AlphaARC-17
Summary: Its the dream vacation of a lifetime... but not is all that it seems to be. A Journal following the adventures of a young woman and her companions on the mysterious island of La Huerta.
1. Author's Note & Prologue

Author's notes*

This wonderful world, all of its characters, the entire storyline, and 90% of the dialog, belongs to and was created by the amazing folks at Pixelberry. I love you guys.

Only the name of the player character is mine.

I am getting nothing from this but sheer enjoyment. (And spending a small fortune for diamonds...)

The reason for this story, and its Journal format is as I started going through the game/story, it well... drew me in, I started putting meself into the character and made the choices as I saw she/me would make them. I guess making it more of a Role Play then reading a story. Honestly I think that is the most attractive element of the whole game of Choices. Its so much more then reading a book.

I'm not sure how many guys use the app since at first glance it appeared to have a female target demographic (at least, in my biased male opinion) but honestly, they should.

The flagship tales of The Sword and the Flame, Most Wanted, and Endless Summer have so much versatility in play. Heck, even the one's I first discounted as being fluffily romanitc and "Soap Opera-y" proved me wrong!

It proves that of well written and if written with heart, a story can reach all people.

That being said one last note in regards to this tale, and that is that, just like the wonderful stories in Choices, there are certain cross-over elements. Such as the way The Sword and the Flame is a popular series in The Freshman and others, or how Most Wanted is referenced in Endless summer. Or my favorite, the optional ending of The Haunting of Braidwood Manor's cross with The Freshman.

That being said, my OC of Sienna, I have as a friend of Eleanor, and possibly the same player character from that story. Still deciding on that.

Why? cause the plot bunnies say so? And I have a crush on Eleanor? (Must be the Elsa braid, gets me every time)

Also all readers please forgive typos, formatting errors, etc 'cause my computer is down and this is entirely being done on my cell phone. (I love you Samsung!)

Aaanyway... please, review, make suggestions or questions etc.

Enjoy!

 **Act 1 Prologue**

A slender figure in her early twenties sat perched upon a pair of suitcases, a large backpack beside her, a warm Bahamian breeze running over the tarmac at Lynden Pindling International Airport.

The wind picked up a little bit more, blowing a lock of light blond hair into her face, a moment later calming again as she brushed the rogue strands back behind her ear as she resumed writing in a leather bound journal. A gift from a friend.

Around her a small gaggle of figures were gathering, students from the same college dragging their suitcases and shoulder bags with them.

"Hey Sienna!"

She looked up from her book as a young man with latin features trotted over to her from the small, charter flight terminal.

"Hey Diego, they say when the plane will be arriving?"

"Yup! It's already landed and on its way over here."

"Great! With the connecting flights I'm a little beat, probably gonna take a nap once we got our seats." She said finishing up her journal entry, then tucking it back into her pack.

"I'm still in shock at being here" he grinned.

"Aren't we all! And… thanks. For being here. So perky and awake and not jet-lagged." She smiles, and tossing an arm over his trim shoulders, gives him a squeeze.

A white and blue twin-engined Beech King Air turns off the taxi-way, following the directions of the ground-marshaller as he waves his orange batons, directing the pilot to park near the assembled group.

"Hey, what are BFFs for?" he returns the hug with a smile.

"I'm so glad you won too. Much more fun with both of us here."

They shoulder their bags as the engines start slowing to a stop, baggage handlers assisting with loading the cargo as the group starts lining up to board.

Sienna looks down to the brochure she had with her ticket. The name of the island getaway in bold letters on the top.

 **La Huerta**


	2. First Entry

12/15/16 First entry.

Ok so first journal.

Diego said its basically like Facebook but stone age and other people cant automatically see it.

I'm totally doing this just because of you Eleanor. Since you couldn't come. This way of writing down memories is too old school for me but, when you used that 'Mary Poppins' Sexy Brit accent of yours on me, and your logic of helping my "dismal grasp of the English language." (Hey! I'm American! Whadya mean my 'glish needs help!) -meh, fine.

Maybe you're right and it'll help me with Prof. Vazquez's class.

Anyway….

AAAAAAAAAAAaaah! [Handmade grinning emoji]

OMG I can't believe this happening. Pinch me wake me up! Wait no, don't! Not for a week!

Cant be luck, mines not that good. Just ask Diego about the last time we had a coin toss contest to prove it.

But what ever it is… I'M GOING TO THE FRICKEN CARIBBEAN!!! Whooooooooot!

Ditching the snow for suntan lotion! Sooo glad Diego won this contest thing too. Don't remember entering it but he said not to sweat it. He's right.

So anyway now we are waiting for last plane to pick us up and take us to… La Huerta! The name just sounds like tropical magic. The flyers the uber perky tour guide Lila gave us makes the place seem a little too good to be true. Probably have to sit through hours of timeshare sales pitch meetings at some point (usually how free trips work) but nothing is going to ruin this trip! Not even this jet lag.

-S.


	3. Second Entry

Entry 2

12/15/16

Hey Ellie.

I'm finally in my room… and what an upgrade! But… its why and how I got this upgrade that's… hard to… put into words.

Guess I should start at the beginning.

First off, while on the plane, I had the strangest dream, there were these three nice looking guys in it. And no, it wasn't that kind of dream… more… terrifying in the obscure way.

They were warning me of something coming or reaching for me.

The first was a soldier with floppy surfer hair, the second a chiseled black guy, but The last one, he was a dashing-yet creepy older guy who said

"You don't understand, do you? But you will. In time." And there was this big volcano and… that's where I woke up.

But that's not the weirdest part. The second guy? In my dream? He shows up for real walking down the aisle and Diego had the brilliant idea of shoving me into him THEN putting me on the spot.

I… well his name is Sean Gayle and he's HOT and charming as hell, and tall, and apparently is the star quarterback for our university's team (but I didn't find that out 'till later) so…. Yeah anyway my mouth moved before I could stop it, as usual. And I just blurted out that I had dreamt about him and all that… yeah not my best moment.

He didn't seem to mind though. Definitely want to get to know him better.

Oh and apparently Diego filmed all of this, I have no doubt for blackmailing me into helping him on our finals… but I'd do that anyway.

So after that we noticed that the flight was taking longer than expected so I went up to check what was up with our pilot.

On the way met some of the other ten winners talking with our tour guide, Lila. Who might I add is… ok remember "tour guide Barbie" from Toy Story 2? Yeah that's her. Perky and sunny as a Pina Colada. Great… now I want one.

Ok so anyway I go to ask the pilot and….. he's totally asleep. Yep. Feet on dash, head on chest. And probably I would have flipped out if… if it wasn't for the fact that I got distracted by the fact that HE was the beach-boy soldier in my dream earlier. Yep. Well… that and the fact of that southern drawl, blue eyes and that smile…

Oh yeah and apparently he gives nicknames to people that annoy him. So I'm "Princess"

Honesty, I… kinda like it. And because he seriously looks the part of a scruffy ranger I called him Aragorn.

Yeah and I may have a crush on him too… did I mention those eyes? He's like, part Han Solo, part Aragorn, part Colonel Jack O'Neill from SG-1.

Anyway, right after that things got… scary like, frickin' terrifying.

This big, black storm front hits, and throws me into a wall. And its bad. Like fire ball lightning and deafening thunder, Armageddon like bad.

I kinda got the sequence of things a little jumbled in my memory, honestly for the first half of it I just clung to a seat in shock, taking it all in 'till Lila shook me out of it and helped me to a seat.

Somewhere in there the plane got hit and the engines died, people screaming and all that. All but one. There's this girl with us, with a blue hoodie and she's got a scar across one eye and has these dark eyes. There's something off about her not like… bad just… she wasn't afraid. if anything she looked… determined.

So yeah pretty much beside her it was Jake, he's the pilot and Sean that kept their wits about them. The girl in the seat next to me, she… she looked worse then me at this point. About to have a panic attack. I cracked a joke like, a bad one, you know. The Cantaloupe one. Yeaaah… hey I did pretty good for short notice!

Anyway, I think it helped. Cause, like she laughed and started breathing again. And let me tell you… that laugh. Her grin. Okay yeah we helped eachother keep our nerves. She held my hand tight as did I in return.

Oh her name is Quinn and you have got to me her. Bright, bubbly, long sweeping red hair… looks like a Disney princess. And just as easy to be with.

Okay fine I like her too. A lot. Do I sound desperate?

Like… three people I've just met and I wanna spend more time with them? Maybe it's the air here. Magical.

Okay I digressed. So somewhere after that Jake breaks us out of that storm and its as brilliant blue as it was before. Like… almost never happened. Except for the engines still being dead as you and I after that party Kaitlyn and her roomies threw last semester.

Honestly? Jake is one hellova damn good pilot. Like Tom Hanks in the movie Sully good.

He, without engines, got us on the ground AND parked in a hanger, coasting through it all. No one answered at the tower though. Which was spooky and it gets weirder later on.

But he got us down in one piece, and Oh My god this island is STUNNING! Green as an emerald gem from the air, caught a glimpse of crystal rivers and waterfalls on the way in and this big ol' smoking volcano in the middle.

So on the ground got to meet the rest of the group better… had an encounter with one of the other girls while we were unloading our bags.

I.. may have been hitting on Sean. Like can you blame me? He reminds me of Kaitlyn's friend Chris, with his gentle manners yet strength of character, wait.. heh, I think they are on the same team lol! Anyway he's just… taller and so… how to… eh. Ok so anyway… back to what happened.

She, Michelle, lit into me for flirting with Sean, like straight outa Bad Girls Club. And well, there's history with those two but they're not together.

I… yeah that was rude but, hey, with what we've been through, frayed nerves and short words are forgiven. Anyway, we are ok with eachother now.

She and Sean ended up in an argument though. So I backed off from that. That's when I found the first of several odd things. A honkin' huge tranquilizer dart. (Yes honkin' is a word. I'm from the Midwest remember?)

Whatever critter it was used on had to have been big. Or is really out of it.

I hope.

That's also when I noticed creepy scar girl in the hoodie was watching and listening to us.

You know, Diego and I are also wondering about something. That there are Ten Students that won, yet not counting Jake the pilot and Lila the tour guide, we've got Sean Gayle, Michelle, his friend Craig (must be another football player judging from his jacket.) Grace who is one smart, sweet little lady, Quinn, and umm… the ivy league loudmouth, who's name escapes me. [A scribbled in note of "Aleister" is apparently added later]

Then Zahra, emo-chick, that's a petty name by the way, Raj, big playful fellow. He's cool. Then Diego and I. That makes ten… she makes eleven.

What's her story I wonder.

Anyway now the weirdness really picks up. There is no one here.

I mean NO FREAKING PERSON!

Besides us the whole place is abandoned. Its creepy. Like that ship, the Mary Celeste. Everything is in its place, half finished cups, luggage etc. Just… people.. gone. Very Twilight Zoney.

I'm still waiting for the You Tube prank folks to pop out.

Jake and I check out the control tower, empty like everything else but… there were these lights, in and on the forest and the air, like I imagine the Aurora Borealis to be like. Only saw them for a few moments in the air there. Not back outside. Now Grace had mentioned earlier this place as a very special ecosystem. So perhaps its like those glow-y plankton in the Pacific just, airborne. Anyway, it was magical. Aaaand yes I think I made Jake blush by holding his hand. .

Also found out he's an ex-navy pilot. Some altercation with an officer.

Aaand made a fool of myself… heh, and I remeber it pretty well so here it is:

Jake: "Look, I'm from Louisiana, and if ferrying rich jerks around a couple times a week is the price I gotta pay for never setting foot back there, hell I'll pay it. Been sleeping in a beach hammock in Costa Rica ever since."

Me: "That sounds lonely"

J: "Uh yeah, that's the appeal" (man that crooked grin of his... Though this time I wonder… if it isn't forced.

Me: "I mean, I get wanting to get away for a little while but… don't you want more? You know, someone to come home to… someone to listen to you… someone to hold you all through the night…"

I know! Gosh! I gotta think before I talk! His… response though... Looking back now I'm not sure if he minded my… blunder.

"You offering, Princess?"

Like… totally teasing me… right?

"what?! No- I.. I just meant.. in theory…"

Yep... damn… blew it.

"In theory, I wanted to be the best pilot the Navy had ever seen. In practice… well you cant beat a cold beer and a Caribbean sunset."

We talked more as well… honestly didn't take that long to check the tower in comparison.

I also quick checked out the beach with Quinn, Raj, Craig and Michelle too. Man… Quinn is not subtle. And that is not a bad thing… she um, gawd I'm blushing again, so we went swimming and she, considering what she went through on the flight was so, happy. I mean skipping and splashing and flirting.

She's beautiful Ellie. That's about all I can say at the moment.

She did have one down moment though. Referencing how she wasn't always this way and that after last year she decided to make the most out of life. I wanted to ask more but she was too serious so… things got wet ;) (splash splash)

And OMG and there was this flying butterfy-seahorse! It… it was as bright and shimmering as that Aurora I saw with Jake. Only Quinn and I saw it before it flew away though.

Craig had buried the sleeping Raj in the sand.

Anyway, I wanted to unpack before it got much later so I could go exploring more so we all went back to the group and that was when we had found out just how devoid of people this place was. In Sean's words. "Where the hell was everyone!"

After getting over the shock we dropped our luggage in the lobby and split up into groups to look around.

Seriously, this resort is beautiful. Stunning. A dream come true! … if it wasn't so… so.. empty.

Jake said he'd go with Brain Trust (Grace, btw love his habit of nicknames, I might stick with it!) And look around the pool area, Zahra and Lila to the ballrooms, I went with Craig, Raj, Sean and Michelle to the restaurant. My stomach made that call.

Also noticed hoodie-girl was missing. Weird.

Anyway at the restaurant named Tortuga. (Cant hear that name without seeing Jack Sparrow lol) like the rest of the place, seems everyone left in a hurry. Even the credit cards were left on the table.

Sean pointed out that the Volcano was supposed to be dormant. That big thing out the window was definitely not dormant. Very steamy. Eagle eye there also spotted some kind of flashing beacon. Maybe a building or something near the mountain.

Anyway we went to compare findings with everyone else.

The pool didn't have much other then being abandoned.

The ballrooms had been set up in some kind of retro-roaring twenties wedding.

Then… there was that big portrait on the wall. Aleister said it was Everett Rourke, the owner of the hotel. But damn… he was the last guy from my dream on the plane. The older guy with the creepy saying. Apparently he's some kind of real life Tony Stark genius business man.

I don't get something though… I get the feeling Grace is attracted to the snob, er Aleister.

She found something else though by the pool. By a damaged fence a foot long tooth! Man hate to see the animal that came from. Maybe that's why there was that Tranq dart I found earlier.

So basically we are all now completely puzzled and worried and bewildered on what to do next.

And then freaky girl pops up behind me and says that its getting dark and we should all go to bed.

She says she was also looking around like us but wouldn't share what she found… I think she trust me as much as I trust her… which ain't much.

But she's right. Oh and Lila at least knows her. Called her Estella.

So basically, hehe, consensus was (at Zahra's provocation) to pick any room we wanted.

I snagged myself the honeymoon suit.

Just. Cause.

It has got the most amazing view! And its own hot tub! Candles, roses. The works. Aaand then Diego shows up and I almost mistake him for someone else. He's not gonna let me live that down will he. Not telling him who I thought it was either cause then he'll only make it worse! Or… better… heh. Love that guy.

Then he found this romantic note, with two different messages on it:

"I must see you one last time before tomorrow... Meet me at our spot in Neptune Cove. Midnight" and "I'll be there."

Oh my goodness I'm so tired… looong day. And it wasn't over yet lol!

So basically I also got talked into going to a midnight impromptu pool party or "Raj Rage" as the big guy called it.

After all the drinks it's a little fuzzy.. but I know Jake called Craig Drax, such a perfect fit! He also showed me that apparently he is quite thoughtful.

I… may have missed an opportunity with Sean but I saw Estella sitting alone up on the hill and well, I wanted to know more so excused myself a moment to go talk to her.

We… actually connected. Least… I think we did. I got the feeling that she's been very hurt in the past and has little trust in people. Explains her attitude. Actually managed to get a smile out of her. Briefly. Before she left. Saying that the people in her life usually get hurt. And she didn't want that to happen to me.

….. well okay then. That's… confusing. But at least I'm getting to know more about her. She's not so scary after all. Just… now I want to find out what hurt her in her past so maybe I can help.

Diego says I have a big heart and a big mouth. And that both get me in trouble. As you well know.

Anyway after Craig soaks everyone with a cannonball I go to get more towels…

Ellie, I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw. Something big with muscles and glowing eyes was staring at me from the bushes. With everything that had happened. I'm afraid I lost it. I screamed.

Sean, Quinn and Jake came over first but what ever it was it was gone. I'm not sure everyone believes me. Heck I'm not sure I believe me.

Kinda killed the party too. Which sucks.

Anyway at least this awesome huge bed makes up for it. Kinda.

Hopefully tomorrow we can figure out what's going on.

G'night Ellie.

-S.


	4. Third Entry

(Author's note: yes short chapter, sorry but next one will be much bigger! ~A-17)

Entry 3

12/16/16

Hey El,

I dreamt about last night, guess its sticking with me.

God, what was that thing in the bushes? What ever it was, I'm never forgetting that thing.

And to top it no one else is forgetting either. "Girl who cried monster" I wanna slap Jake hard for that one.

Least Raj was good natured about it. I know I probably sounded like a B, but I told them off an that they can keep partying or whatever the hell they wanted but there is something going on here and we need to figure out what.

I… could have said that nicer I know. I just… I'm scared ok? It wasn't supposed to be like this. No people, Weird creatures that go bump in the night, that big tooth Grace found. With some logical answers I'm sure its fine I just need that. And the hangover I'm sure isn't helping.

I know I hurt Raj's feelings, he made a joke that I kinda snapped at, hope he knows not personal.

His cooking is good though, not sure about the oysters part. I'm with Zahra on this one. "I do not want this food in this place, I do not want this food in my face." Kudos 'Sam I am' for making Dr. Seuss rhymes so early in the morning.

Diego and I sat with Raj, Craig and Michelle, mostly cause I wanted to make it up to Raj. He's such a sweet guy. He even stood up for me when Craig snarked about me having another melt down. I expected such from Craig. So it was a no bother. Jake was the one that still stung. I thought… never mind.

Anyway Lila's got an idea where everyone is at. Apparently there was an evacuation a couple days back and that folks should be at the island's emergency shelter a few hours hike from here.

Part of me has got a bad feeling, probably just cause of that large thing last night but waiting and not knowing is worse. Diego… love that guy. He's coming too. I think just cause he knows how scared I am but he hid that well from everyone by faining "being afraid of becoming zombie chow" and taking the attention.

So Jake, Lila, Aleister, Diego and I are the ones going.

That's where we are at now, stopped off at my room to change into my boots.

Wish us luck El!

-S.


End file.
